The stories behind the buildings, statues and other points of interest that make Manhattan fascinating.

Friday, May 27, 2016

The Torrilhon House Hotel - No. 680 Sixth Avenue

In the years prior to the Civil War
French immigrant Jean George Torrilhon had established himself in the butcher
and catering business. In 1860 the Thompkins Market opened near the
Cooper Union. It was an unusual cast iron-fronted building with a split
personality. The upper floors housed the Armory of the Seventh
Regiment, while the ground floor served as a high-end grocery.

In 1862 historian Thomas F. DeVoe
recorded the scope of Torrilhon’s offerings. “Under the stairway are
located stands Nos. 43 and 45, kept by two Frenchmen, (F. A. Bailly and J. G.
Torilhon [sic],) who keep, besides pork in every conceivable form, boned
turkeys, capons, larded bird-game, filet de boeuf, etc., many of which are
cooked ready ‘for parties, breakfasts, dinners, or suppers, cold or warm.”

In the meantime to the west,
Sixth Avenue was changing. Modest brick-faced homes lined the
blocks between 14th and 23rd Street; but the uptown
movement of commerce was already making itself felt. By 1869, the
year that Edwin Booth opened his colossal granite Shakespearean theater at the corner of 23rd
Street, Torrilhon had opened the Torrilton House on the opposite corner.

On October 17 that year he
advertised “Fine Apartments for families and single gentlemen to let, with
Board; the very best table d’hote in the city, being served at 6 o’clock; terms
moderate.”

But Torrilhon’s hotel would not last
long at that location.On July 8, 1870
architect Julius F. Munkwitz filed plans for a “four-story Ohio-stone front
hotel” two blocks to the south at 344 Sixth Avenue, between 21st and 22nd streets. The Real Estate Record & Builders’ Guide
noted that Vanderbilt & Ackerman would be the builders.

The choice of architects was
perhaps surprising since Munckwitz was at the time the Supervising Architect
and Superintendent of Parks. While working on Thorilhon’s hotel he was
simultaneously designing park structures with Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey
Mould.

A harmonious blend of Italianate and
neo-Grec styles, the four-story building was completed early in 1871. A
pleasing marriage of Italianate and neo-Grec styles, it featured miniature cornices
which defined each story.The lintels of
the openings held hands by way of slightly projecting band courses.A handsome pressed cornice finished the
reserved composition.

It would seem that Jean George Torrilhon never
intended to move his Torrilhon House into the new building.On February 26, 1871 he advertised “To let—Very
nice, small hotel, well situated, furnished or unfurnished; possession
immediately.Inquire at 344 Sixth
avenue.”Torrilhon’s restaurant background
was reflected in his boasting “The kitchen has one of those imperial French
ranges of Moneuse & Duparquet; the only good one in America.”

Torrilhon either changed his mind,
or simply had no takers.The new hotel
became the Torrilhon House; and Torrilhon partnered with John P. Dietrich to
establish a restaurant on the first floor.

The residents of the upper floors
were apparently financially comfortable.One of the earliest left her French silk umbrella at the Second National
Bank on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street in June
1871.She placed an advertisement in the
New York Herald, describing it as having “a golden rim,” and offering a $3
reward.The generous reward would amount
to $60 in 2016.

In 1873, the same year that
Torrilhon brought Julius Munckwitz back to enlarge the hotel to the rear, a
French couple moved into Room No. 1.City life appears to have been not to their liking, however.An advertisement in the New York Herald on
August 19 read “A French gentleman and his wife, recently arrived from Europe,
desire to find Board with an American family in the country, where they could
exchange French for English lessons, or give French lessons for part board.”After giving the Torrilhon House as his
address, the Frenchman added “P.S.--The lady is a first class dressmaker.”

The building to the right, another hotel, was built the same year as the Torrilhon House.

In 1887 No. 344 was purchased by
John Parke.He and his wife had lived on
the third floor since its opening.He
immediately brought in architect and contractor J. H. Fitzpatrick to remove
the restaurant and install a new storefront.The alterations cost him $400.The
newly-created store was became John Clark’s hardware store.

Mrs. Parke was a fixture at
her third floor window.By now the
avenue below had become a major shopping district, vying with Broadway.Old-fashioned and outspoken, she was known to
shout down to women below if their demeanor or apparel induced her displeasure.

But the habit caused her serious
problems on Sunday evening, July 12, 1891.Two days later The New York Times reported “Mrs. John Parke, who has
lived for years at 344 Sixth Avenue, is in a peck of trouble.”The newspaper said that she had been enjoying
the Sixth Avenue sights “and still livelier Sixth Avenue fashions” that
evening.

When she saw two women wearing what
she considered outlandish costumes, she let out a barrage of insults.

“Mrs. Parke is not identified with
the new school, and as may be imagined sees cause for frequent ejaculation from
her vantage point above the sidewalk, and in an ejaculatory period of unusual
extent on Sunday evening she was unfortunate enough to have her artificial
teeth escape and fall to the walk below.”

The women saw their opportunity for
revenge.“A couple of wonderfully bedecked
women approaching—their starling appearance had been the cause of Mrs. Parke’s
wide-mouthed emotion—saw the teeth as they struck the pavement, and lost no
time in taking possession of them.”

The dentureless Mrs. Parke tried her
best to call the women back; to no avail.She placed an advertisement in the morning paper, offering “a suitable
reward for the return of the teeth.”

The New York Timesjibed on July
14 “The advertisement brought a score of persons with teeth to exchange for
money, and as a result Mrs. Parke was in such a state of mind yesterday afternoon
that she did not feel like discussing the matter.”

In 1895 John Parke took out a
$55,000 loan on the building, presumably to convert the hotel to commercial
lofts.By 1898 the upper floors were filled with a
variety of small businesses, including Bruno Lueddeker’s retail fur shop;
Lillian Fimbell, “ladies’ hairdresser;” M. Standish, “manicures;” drawing and
painting instructor Newell Favarger, and Kate McCrane’s lamp shade
business.The first floor was once again
a restaurant, operated by George Hoeffler and his wife, Clara.

Parke had died by 1899, but his
family held on to the property and replaced the storefront that year. The
eastern side of Sixth Avenue had seen the arrival of massive shoe concerns in
the 1890s—most notably those of Andrew Alexander and Alfred J. Cammeyer.In the first years of the new century No. 344
Sixth Avenue, too, began filling with shoe retailers.

The first was the Oppe Shoe Company,
which leased the new ground floor store and the basement.In 1904 the other tenants in the building
were the Manhattan Dental Company on the second floor, and the Spencer Umbrella
Company on the top two.

Around 5:00 on the afternoon of June
7, 1904 fire broke out in the basement.The Times reported “There were a number of people in the shoe store and
in the dental parlors.All of them ran
hurriedly to the street.Everyone
succeeded in getting out before the fire gained much headway except Charles
Carpenter, an old man, who was in a rear room on the third floor.”

Carpenter was disoriented and nearly
overcome by the smoke when he succeeded in finding the front window.He had climbed half-way onto the sill when he
fainted.A police officer was able to
reach him from the third floor window of the adjoining window, and push him
back into the building and safety.Later
a fire fighter climbed a ladder and brought the unconscious man down.The damage to the building was estimated at
$2,000 (about $55,000 today).

Soon the shoe store of Frazin &
Oppenheim moved in.The store started
operation in 1901 and by 1909 had six other New York stores when the over-extended firm faced bankruptcy.The Shoe Retailer reported on October 9 that
year “The store at 344 Sixth avenue was bought, lease, stock and fixtures, by Schwalbe
Bros., who will continue the business at that place.”

Shoes would be replaced by garments
within the decade.In 1915 the store and
basement were leased to David Weiner for his ladies wear shop, the Weiner Busy
Cloak Co.Other apparel companies to
lease space within the next few years were the Martin Hemstitching Company,
Antaky & Fazio, embroiderers, and the Century Braid Company.

The building was the scene of a
mystery on December 3, 1914 when Robert L. Gordon discovered a four-month old
baby girl “sitting in a go-cart” in the hallway.Gordon called Patrolman Kelly who went from
office to office in the building; but no one knew where the baby had come from.

The little girl was taken to the West
20th Street Station house for several hours; when to Bellevue
Hospital.The baby’s mother had carefully dressed the
child before abandoning her.The Times
said “The child wore a white coat, a white dress, white knitted bootees,
knitted underwear, and a pink petticoat.It was wrapped in a s mall blue quilt.”

In 1925
Sixth Avenue was extended to the south, resulting in the renumbering of the
building to No. 680.Throughout most of the
20th century the former hotel was home to an assortment of small
businesses—dressmakers and embroiders, for instance--on the upper
floors while various stores (one a china and glass merchant) occupied the
street level.

After the dark period of the 1970s
and ‘80s when the buildings of the Ladies’ Mile suffered neglect and abuse, a
renaissance gave them new purpose. In 2005 No. 680 was connected
internally with No. 678 and renovated to apartments.